August 2009 Archives
Mathieu Schneider played just one season for the Ducks and was about to begin a second last year, when the Ducks needed to make room for the suddenly un-retired Teemu Selanne. Schneider's status was in limbo for several weeks during training camp last September, before he was finally traded to Atlanta on the eve of the season opener.
Fresh off signing a free-agent contract with the Vancouver Canucks, Schneider told the Vancouver Province today that he nearly was dealt straight from the Ducks to the Canucks: "I knew last year when I was in Anaheim (that) Mike (Gillis, Vancouver's GM) was trying to trade for me. I found out later from a couple of people on the Ducks organization that he was about a day away from getting me before I got traded to Atlanta."
Anaheim received Brad Larsen, Ken Klee and minor-league forward Chad Painchaud from Atlanta, and none of the three are still under contract to the Ducks. Just to serve our curiosity, we checked with former GM Brian Burke to see what the potential Schneider-to-Vancouver deal would have fetched the Ducks in return. In an e-mail, Burke said he didn't recall any of the specifics, but that Schneider's take is probably accurate.
Alas, the rest is history.
There's a lengthy Q&A with Todd Marchant up on AnaheimDucks.com. Your highlights are at the bottom, where he looks ahead to the coming season and compares it favorably to the '06-07 team that changed personnel in the middle of the previous year, had a good but short playoff run and then ... well, you remember the rest ...
Ducks forward Bobby Ryan was about to take aim at a fairway this afternoon and sounded less intimidated by the hole in front of him than the possibility of making the U.S. Olympic Hockey team.
"Surreal is probably the best word," said Ryan, who along with Ryan Whitney was one of two Ducks invited to the three-day orientation camp last week in Chicago. "With some of the big names out there, it was pretty incredible to get to skate, pal around and get to know the guys."
Continue reading Bobby Ryan talks Olympics..
Todd Marchant and Teemu Selanne will participate in the 12th Annual Fedorin Cup charity hockey game Saturday at Anaheim Ice.
This year's event will consist of a charity exhibition game between current and former NHL players, local pros and standouts in a Team Canada vs. Team USA format. There will be both a live and silent auction; postgame VIP Anaheim ICE plaza party with exclusive VIP live auction and casino-style gaming, opportunity drawing and celebrity appearances.
The Fedorin Cup was established in 1998 when Eric Fedorin, a 36-year-old local California hockey player, was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away a short time after the inaugural event. In is his memory, the Athletic Sports Fund of America-ASFA will donate a portion of all proceeds to NHL Hockey Fights Cancer, the American Cancer Society and offer grants to athletes in need.
Tickets for the event are $10 for adults, $5 for youth 11-17, and FREE for children 10 and under with an adult. For more information on the event or to order tickets or VIP packages online, visit www.asfamerica.com.
The event doors open at 2:30 p.m. at Anaheim Ice (300 W. Lincoln Ave., near downtown Anaheim). Silent auction begins at 3:30 with warmups and the game to follow at 4 p.m.
The Ducks have added Westminster ICE to their roster of local skating facilities, known as THE RINKS development program. With Westminster ICE, the Ducks now own four local skating facilities, consisting of two ice rinks (Anaheim ICE, Westminster) and two inline facilities (Corona, Huntington Beach).
Continue reading Ducks lay ICE in Westminster..
The Ducks have renewed their affiliation agreement with the Bakersfield Condors, which served as the team's ECHL farm team last season.
Anaheim assigned right wing Chad Painchaud, defenseman Andrew Thomas and center Matt Caruana to Bakersfield and a record eight Condors were called up to the American Hockey League, including six players from the Ducks organization.
"We are very excited to extend our affiliation agreement with the Condors," said David McNab, the Ducks' vice president of hockey operations. "The close proximately [sic] of Bakersfield and the Condors on-ice success make the organization an ideal affiliate for the Ducks and California hockey fans."
"Last season was a get-to-know-each-other season, and I think in
Year Two the benefits to both organizations will increase and our fans will be pleased with the on-ice results," Bakersfield president Matthew Riley added.
The Ducks have yet to name an AHL affiliate for next season.
Ryan Getzlaf is with the Canadian Olympic team hopefuls in Calgary this week for orientation camp. He still isn't skating, however, while he recovers from sports hernia surgery. But Getzlaf told the Toronto Star he expects to be ready for training camp with the Ducks: "Probably after this camp I'll get back on the ice a little bit just kind of by myself and get the flow going," he said.
The newest Ducklings will be on display Sept. 5 at Anaheim Ice, when 2009 draft picks Peter Holland (first round, 15th overall), Matt Clark (second round) and Scott Valentine (sixth round) participate in the Ducks' annual rookie camp. The 2 p.m. practice is open to the public.
They will be joined by previous first-round selections Mark Mitera (19th overall in 2006) and center Logan MacMillan (19th overall in 2007). Left wing Matt Beleskey, who made his NHL debut with the Ducks last season, will also be among the 14 forwards on the 25-man roster.
The camp includes a three-game rookie series against the San Jose Sharks at Sharks Ice from Sept. 7-9, with all games being held at 7 p.m.
Continue reading Ducks announce rookie camp schedule..
I've been holding onto this tidbit for a few days, but it looks like the Orange County Register is letting it out of the bag: Longtime Register beat writer Dan Wood will replace Brent Severyn as the Ducks' radio color commentator this season.
It's the first full-time radio gig for Wood, and his background figures to add a different flavor than that of Severyn, a former player. He's got all of the knowledge and a good enough sense of humor to fill the shoes of Severyn, who brought roughly a 1-to-1 joke-to-insightful comment ratio. Gauging effective sports commentary is extremely subjective, but it should be a seamless transition. "Woody" is a good guy and well-respected by players and coaches.
This much I know: I won't miss getting beat in print darn near every day.
Update: Here is the official release from the Ducks.
Update 2:
The team extended its radio broadcast agreement with AM 830 KLAA. The one-year deal includes pre-, regular and postseason coverage.
The Toronto Globe and Mail reports that Gord Dineen, the Ducks' top minor-league coach a year ago, will be one of two assistant coaches next season for the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate.
Dineen was the Iowa Chops' head coach last season, and was the top assistant to brother Kevin Dineen the year before when the Portland Pirates were the Ducks' AHL affiliate. He will have the distinction of being the only head coach in Chops history, as well as being immortalized in this non-fight with Willi Plett in the mid-80's.
The Ducks announced today that single-game tickets for the club's four preseason home games will go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m.
Continue reading Single-game preseason ticket sales announced..
The Ducks have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Brett Festerling to a two-year contract. The two-way contract pays $525,000 each year Festerling is in the NHL.
Festerling was described by head coach Randy Carlyle as "the surprise of training camp" a year ago, when he leaped past fellow rookies Brendan Mikkelson and Brian Salcido to become the Ducks' first defenseman recalled from the AHL (back when Francois Beauchemin tore his ACL in November). Festerling doesn't have much offensively (five assists in 40 regular-season games last season) but he earned the trust of the former Norris Trophy-winning coach to spell an injured James Wisniewski in the second round of the playoffs against the Detroit Red Wings.
Come training camp Festerling will be on the bubble again. The Ducks are fairly set with their top four (Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Whitney, Wisniewski, Nick Boynton), and top five if you include Luca Sbisa. That leaves Festerling in a group with Sheldon Brookbank, Mikkelson, Salcido and Steve McCarthy competing for two roster spots.
HockeysFuture.com has released its Fall rankings of the Ducks' top 20 prospects, starting with new defenseman Luca Sbisa straight on down to Petteri Wirtanen (at the bottom of the
"Other Notables" list). There's one factual error; Petri Kontiola (ranked #8) has signed with a KHL team for next season. The rest of the top 10, in order: Sbisa, Jake Gardiner, Peter Holland, Mark Mitera, Kyle Palmieri, Brendan Mikkelson, Matt Beleskey, Kontiola, Matt Clark, Matthias Modig.
Nick Bonino (#14) and Brett Festerling (#17) seem underrated, and Maxime Macenauer probably deserved a shot at the top 20, and I can't argue with the guys I haven't seen yet. Perhaps you can...
...The Hockey News has compiled a list of the best hockey teams to last only a year, including the Ducks' AHL affiliate last year, the Iowa Chops. Some fun mascots and some interesting alumni on the list.
Adding some "size" and "sandpaper" to their forward corps, the Ducks dealt Drew Miller and a third-round draft pick in 2010 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Evgeny Artyukhin on Thursday.
Continue reading Ducks send Miller to Lightning for Artyukhin..
Recent Ducks draft pick Kyle Palmieri had a goal and two assists for the United States in an 8-1 win over Russia on Tuesday, the first of four games between the two teams at the 2009 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp.
Palmieri's wraparound goal at 2:44 of the opening period was his team's third in 41 seconds, and gave the U.S. a 3-1 lead.
Defenseman Jake Gardiner, the Ducks' first-round pick in 2008, was kept off the scoresheet.
The brothers Niedermayer have made an annual tradition of a charity summer hockey game in their hometown of Cranbrook, British Columbia. With it comes the opportunity for each to field questions from the local media about their NHL careers and, for once, Rob Niedermayer has the more compelling career dilemma.
He hasn't signed anywhere since becoming a free agent July 1, while Scott is already under contract to the Ducks for one more season. Asked about his future prospects by Craig Lindsay of the Kootenay News Advertiser, Rob had this to say: "Obviously, my first choice is with the NHL. We'll see where that leads and go from there."
I get the feeling there's a KHL fan somewhere quoting "Dumb and Dumber." Either way, it's the strongest confirmation yet from Rob that he doesn't expect to be back for a seventh season in Anaheim.
Recent Ducks draft picks Kyle Palmieri and Jake Gardiner were selected by USA Hockey to the national team roster for a seven-game series against Russia this week.
The players are auditioning for a spot on the U.S. National Junior Team that will take part in the 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
Gardiner, a 6-foot-2 defenseman from the University of Wisconsin, was the Ducks' first-round pick (17th overall) in 2008. Palmieri, a 5-11 forward from the U.S. Under-18 team, was chosen 26th overall by the Ducks in the most recent entry draft in June.
Updating my earlier post, Justin Pogge is now a Duck. The Ducks will send Toronto a conditional sixth-round draft pick in 2011, unless Pogge make 30 starts for Anaheim over the next two seasons, in which case it becomes a third-round pick.
Continue reading It's official: Pogge to Ducks. Update..
Several news outlets are reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs will trade goaltender Justin Pogge to the Ducks.
Here's what makes sense about the deal from Toronto's end: The Leafs just hired former Ducks goaltending consultant Francois Allaire to coach their goaltenders, and it's entirely within reason that Allaire didn't like what he saw in Pogge. Pogge is a former third-round draft pick, 90th overall in 2004 by then-Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. But Pogge's first seven NHL games, all during the 2008-09 season, didn't particularly live up to their promise.
He went 1-4-1 in Toronto with a 4.36 goals-against average and a .844 save percentage, splitting the season between the NHL and AHL. In 53 games for the Toronto Marlies, Pogge went 26-21-5 with a 2.70 GAA and .895 save percentage. TSN is reporting the Ducks will give up a conditional draft pick, which will go up or down based on Pogge's performance.
The curiosity of the trade begins on the Ducks' end. The most likely scenario has Pogge going straight to the minors. Although Anaheim recently gained a goaltending prospect in Timo Pielmeier (acquired from the Sharks in the Kent Huskins/Travis Moen deal), they lost a pair of minor-leaguers in the offseason. David LeNeveu appears headed to Austria, and free agent David McKee isn't likely to re-sign.
The less likely scenario has Pogge stepping up to the NHL sooner, with Jean-Sebastien Giguere and his $6 million salary being traded, and Pogge backing up Jonas Hiller. However, this off-season hasn't seen Ducks general manager Bob Murray anywhere close to trading Giguere -- who has a no-trade close -- though Murray hasn't ruled out the possibility.
The trade isn't official yet, but stay tuned for updates.
Forward Josh Green, who split last season between the Ducks and AHL affiliate Iowa, has signed with MoDo of the Swedish Elite League, according to <a href="http://www.camrosecanadian.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1687255">this report</a> in English and <a href="http://allehanda.se/sport/1.1246692">this one</a> in Swedish.
Green [<a href="http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=19368">career stats</a>] appeared in 39 games with Iowa, scoring 10 goals and 24 points. He also appeared in five Stanley Cup playoff games with the Ducks, going scoreless.
It's been a slow week in Duck-land, though a couple items came across the virtual news desk ...
1. The "Power Players" -- the skimpily clad girls who skate across the ice during timeouts -- had tryouts. Check out a photo gallery here and a recap of the event here.
2. Ryan Getzlaf is the 19th-best player in the NHL, according to one writer, who now has the unenviable task of coming up with 18 who are better.
3. Another writer believes Francois Beauchemin is a strong candidate to captain the Maple Leafs. Though Beauchemin has a large contract to live up to, and solid experience on some great veteran-laden Ducks teams, he's not a vocal guy and sometimes comes across as shy. His game does all the talking, which probably isn't enough to captain an NHL club.
Much ado was made about the seven-year contract extension Chris Pronger received from the Philadelphia Flyers shortly after he was traded by the Ducks. And with good reason: It's a strange contract.
It provides the defenseman at least $7 million in its first four years, $4 million in the fifth year, and $525,000 each of the last two years, when Pronger will be 41 and 42 years old. Now, the NHL will hire an outside firm to determine whether the Flyers discussed a timeline for Pronger's potential retirement before the contract was signed, ESPN.com is reporting.
The NHL is investigating a similarly lengthy contract the Chicago Blackhawks gave Marian Hossa. At the end of the investigation, the report says, the league will decide whether to pursue charges against the the teams for circumventing the collective bargaining agreement. The teams could face fines, the loss of draft picks or both.
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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